The Word Incarnate Tented Among Us Series

The Word Incarnate Tented Among Us John 1:14

John 1:1-14 (nas)The Infinite character and person of the Word before Creation and His Work at Creation: 1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. 4 In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. 5 The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.

The Witness of the Word to John: 6 There came a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness, to testify about the Light, so that all might believe through him. 8 He was not the Light, but he came to testify about the Light. 9 There was the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man.

The Rejection of the Word by the World at large: 10 He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. 11 He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him.

The RECEPTION of the Word by some by the will of God: 12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

Announcing the Word in the Flesh: 14 “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

The Word Became Flesh

“And the Word became flesh.” Is this phrase so familiar to you that it seems trivial to you? I hope not. Every year, no, wait, EVERY DAY, believers in Christ celebrate His incarnation, his “in-flesh-ment”. Biblical Christianity stands on the fact that the Self-Existent, Eternal Son of God, who IS God, made His appearance on earth in Flesh in order to die for sin. This verse exclaims the most profound love and grace of our Great God exacted in the Lord Jesus. It is not in the least bit “trivial”. At an exact point in time, The Word, the Lord Jesus “became” what He was not before. The purely divine Logos-Person described in the previous verses maintained His Divine God-nature, but ALSO took on something that He was not before, namely FLESH, in order to accomplish something that was never done before, and could ONLY be accomplished by Him: God took on Human Nature in order to redeem sinners.

Jesus definitely took on this fleshy covering, a body, which all human beings have but He did not become MAN as did other human beings; that’s not what verse 14 is saying: It is saying that this Infinite, Self-Existent Light and Life, the Eternal God, took on the frailty of man’s nature, but without sin. The INFINITE Word became FINITE flesh, but maintained ONE personality. The Timeless One stepped into Time. The creator stepped into His Creation. The Word of God who existed with God and AS God appeared in Flesh.

This TRUTH had already been challenged during John’s time and God used the eyewitness of John the Baptist and of John the Apostle and the other disciples who had seen and been with Jesus to refute the various heresies which had arisen (including Gnosticism, which we have talked about recently). Verse 14 continues to refute all heresies since that time. Here is the truth about the Biblical Jesus: The Word of God, Jesus is the Divine God-Son who came in the Flesh to suffer and die in the Flesh for sinners.

Jesus did not come merely to set a good example of humility and obedience so that we could “do better”. If that were actually the case, we would only become MORE self-centered and more self-indulgent than we are already in our sinful selves. God came to earth because man CANNOT improve himself. Sinful man cannot “become better” in order to enter God’s Family. That is paganism at its best.

The Greeks and Romans could not imagine one of their gods lowering themselves down the ladder to human form in order to Suffer and DIE; In their pagan framework, humans would work to achieve the status of the gods. Present day false religions believe the same: “Work to achieve status; work to become better.” God’s Word teaches that Our God came to us in the flesh to die in the flesh so that His Perfect Life and death might be applied to those to whom He gave the right to Sonship, to those who would believe in His Name, to those who would deny themselves, take up their cross and follow Him. He was born to die for us so that we might DIE TO OURSELVES and have life in His Name, by faith in HIS NAME, to bring glory to His Name.